Contents

Biography

Strong Sad is the youngest of the Brothers Strong. He stands somewhere between Strong Bad and Strong Mad in height, and has large, elephant-like feet he calls "soolnds" (which, in the past, poachers have apparently offered thousands of dollars to obtain). His body is round and two shades of grey — a lighter grey from the waist up, a darker grey from the waist down. For some reason, however, Coach Z thinks he is yellow.[1]

Strong Sad's body makes the sound of an inflated rubber ball when hit — and according to Strong Sad, it is hit often. In One Two, One Two, Strong Sad hits his belly rhythmically, as one of the selectable tracks. His head is white and has an odd lump on the top, referred to as a "disturbing soft-serve flip" by Strong Bad in keep cool (a trait shared by Mr. Bland). In replacement, Strong Bad claims that Strong Sad might not have any teeth, but Strong Sad was seen brushing his teeth in narrator and concert, and his skull was shown to have teeth in Doomy Tales of the Macabre. What's more, in Strong Bad Classics!, Strong Sad implies that his wisdom teeth regenerate on an annual basis. He is usually very calm and soft-spoken, although he has become hyperactive on occasion (at least once under the influence of caffeine), and he has also temporarily (albeit involuntarily) become a boisterous radio DJ once or twice. The phrase "covered bridges" seems to be able to put him in some type of trance, as seen in "Fall Float Parade". He also has some sort of reaction to sunlight overexposure, causing him to become uncharacteristically happy,[2] even if he did not enjoy it (at one point, he actually asks to be shot). Despite his pale skin, he has apparently never been sunburnt, though he became moonburnt on at least one occasion.

Once, Strong Sad's main defining characteristic was his chronic depression, which overshadowed his high levels of intelligence and creativity. He has even been quoted saying "Each day, we die a little more." several times. Lately, however, he appears to have recovered and rarely expresses sadness (which he acknowledges in Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 17.2 and attempts to fix). His many interests include listening, books, listening to books, calligraphy, safety, being alone, arts, crafts, and arts b/w crafts. He has outstanding penmanship, often writing poetry, which he then recites at his own "poetry slams". Strong Sad is seen using both his right and left hands to write and play the guitar, implying that he is ambidextrous. He has been seen practicing T'ai Chi. Strong Sad also enjoys playing board games, and he seems to enjoy going to science-fiction and fantasy conventions, as seen in different town and TrogdorCon '97. He has an iPod, and he occasionally updates his blog from time to time. Strong Sad's highly philosophical view on life has creeped out other characters more than once, most notably Strong Bad and Marzipan. Strong Sad may have a crush on Marzipan; he has occasionally lied to Marzipan just so he could spend time with her, as in Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 10.2. However, he might just be trying to make friends with anyone he can.

"Look at that voluptuous belly."

Strong Sad has a love-hate relationship with his brother Strong Bad. It appears that the two got along quite well when they were younger, but nowadays, Strong Sad suffers almost constant abuse from Strong Bad. In particular, Strong Bad has quite a list of names he has used to insult Strong Sad. Strong Sad has also been the subject of numerous practical jokes by Strong Bad, Strong Mad, and The Cheat, ranging from presumably being drilled a new navel by Lil' Strong Bad to being used as a stunt double for the Dangeresque movies, to even having wildebeest pheromones washed into his laundry. In turn, Strong Sad holds a very low opinion of his brother and considers him to be a clueless weirdo. However, evidence from "The Secrets That I Keep" suggests that even though Strong Sad insults Strong Bad, he also looks up to him and misses the days when they got along. He seems to retain some degree of brotherly love toward Strong Bad: when the Tandy 400 exploded in the email gimmicks, Strong Sad sincerely asked Strong Bad if he were all right, and wrote a letter wishing him well while Strong Bad was incarcerated. However, he also stated that his brother's absence caused him to feel far happier with himself than usual, and that he turned Strong Bad's computer room into his tai chi space. He was also eager to help Strong Bad with his 150th email in Sbemail 150?!?, and even managed to provide the background music for Strong Bad's email intro in alternate universe.

Strong Sad's troubled relationship with Strong Bad seems to have affected his social interaction habits with the rest of the community of Free Country, USA. He is generally reclusive and has only a few friends — his best friend appears to be Homsar, and he plays Jenga with The Cheat on Tuesdays. Early in the site's history, Homestar Runner even counted Strong Sad as a friend, and still shows some signs of friendship towards him. He is often overlooked and ignored when he has an idea, and he is sometimes even believed to be dead. Despite all of this, he serves as a loyal officer in the Homestarmy, temps at an unnamed computer company with Strong Bad and Homestar, and even has a Strong Sad Lookalike Contest held in his honor/insult each year. Due to Strong Bad's persuasion, Strong Sad never celebrates Decemberween; he spends the whole day locked inside the bath tub. Strong Sad also had an imaginary friend when he was young, named Scotty Titi.

A stickler for correct, and often antiquated, pronunciation and grammar, Strong Sad frequently takes to nitpicking other characters for even minor pronunciation mistakes (such as machete), and himself takes great care to pronounce many such words correctly, even if the result is odd-sounding or dated (such as macabre). He also claimed to have both practiced on and worked at the dictionary. While generally he seems to view this as helping others, none of the characters he's corrected have ever been anything other than annoyed with his nitpicking, something Strong Sad seems to fail to recognize. His reaction to the mispronunciation of 'pseudonym', as referenced below, may tie this feature into the bossier and more aggressive side of his personality.

As just noted, there seems be more to his story than depression and whining, as Strong Sad has done things that are not in line with his usually calm temperament from time to time. He threw snowballs (saved in the freezer since he was eight) at Strong Bad, has been physically violent, flipped out on Homestar when he could not pronounce "pseudonym" correctly, and had a long bout of maniacal laughter when it was revealed that he was behind the whole DNA Evidence event. Also, when he was coerced into being the security guard in Baddest of the Bands, he tasered Strong Bad whenever he annoyed him. He also states in his blog that his resolution for the new year is to not feel so bad about wanting to hit Homestar so much, which is another example of his violent self.

Lurking

Strong Sad has often been identified as a lurker, or has been associated with lurking.

Deathly Pallor with "Lonely Lurker Attack"

Email garage sale — Strong Bad describes "The Lurker", using Strong Sad as an example, as being "the shady night-manager at Stuckey's type, who shades around all day but never buys anything." Strong Bad also tells Strong Sad, "At least [Senor Cardgage] bought something, lurker!"

Senorial Day — In an Easter egg, Strong Sad says, "there's nothing like going out for a lonely lurk on a lovely spring night."

Character Video Transcript

{The lens cap is removed, and Strong Sad appears as the camera focuses on him.}

STRONG SAD: I'm not really comfortable talking to a camera.

MARZIPAN:{off-screen} Just pretend like you're talking to me, or a wall, or a tree, or any of the other stuff that you usually talk to.

STRONG SAD: Ohhhhhh! My name's Strong Sad and... I have two brothers that like to pummel me every hour, on the hour. I mostly sit in my room, and... listen to music, and write, {begins tracing his finger along the edge of the screen} and talk to walls or trees... {stops touching the edge of the screen} and wait to be pummeled... I guess I like board games more than most people. And by that I mean I like to play board games more than most people do. But by that I also mean I like board games more than I like most people. Like this one time, me and Hi Ho! Cherry-O were playing The Game of Life, and I got a phone call from... Coach Z or somebody. And, I didn't answer it because I was having such a good time with playing this board game, against this other board game...

Fun Facts

"The lake head?"

Matt Chapman has said that Strong Sad is the most difficult main character to voice due to how delicate he sounds. If Matt strains his voice too much before recording, he actually can't do Strong Sad at all (which led to Mike substituting for Strong Sad's one word in cheat talk).

Strong Sad used to have an AOL Instant Messenger screenname of "depressio222". A fan registered the name, and after many questions as to why the Brothers Chaps had not reserved it beforehand, Strong Sad's IM changed to "depressio111117".

Strong Sad was originally going to sound like Michael Stipe, but it was quickly rejected.

In concert, Strong Bad says the band sloshy appeals to "people that went to college." This may indicate that Strong Sad had a tertiary education. This seems to have been confirmed in independent, in which Strong Sad claims to have "minored in holding on wide shots for too long" in film school.

As seen in an Easter egg in pop-up, Strong Sad's face has a striking resemblance to the Manicouagan Reservoir, a lake formed by a meteor impact in Quebec.

On June 16, 2019, Strong Bad posted a picture of the crater in response to a landmark resembling The Cheat, complaining that Strong Sad "copied [him] by having a giant meteor hit Quebec like 200 million years ago".

Strong Sad has a complicated relationship with food. He is known to overeat and receives many insults regarding his weight. He has preferences for strange and ethnic foods and has many dietary restrictions.